


Pathways

by Amphibious_Creature



Category: Original Work
Genre: i wrote this instead of paying attention in class, yeet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-21 08:35:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21071996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amphibious_Creature/pseuds/Amphibious_Creature
Summary: Overcome with fear, you start to run, stumbling along the narrow pathways. The misty depths below await the inevitable misstep that will result in your tumbling into the vast expanses.





	Pathways

You are on a path. It’s precarious, rickety. At times, you have to crawl on your hands and knees so you don’t fall. There are others on the path, some alone, some in groups. They look desolate, eyes sunken in and bones showing. You wonder if you look the same. There is no food or water on the path. You’d cry for yourself, and the others on the path, but you can’t waste the water.  
The path seems to stretch out endlessly into the distance. Each path winds in senseless directions. There’s no way you could count how many times the path branches, or how many people walk its paths. You wonder when you got here, how long its been, but there is no sun. the sky doesn’t change.   
“You must make yourself scarce, or they’ll find you!”  
They are the only words you’ve heard in… how long? You can’t remember. The woman who said them looks terrible. Her skin is cracked and dry, and her bones jut out like knives. Her eyes are sunken and hollow, but they hold a spark of fear. ‘What is there to be afraid of?’ you want to ask, but the woman is gone. You become afraid as well, but of what, you don’t know.  
A man once said that fear is the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind, and that the fear of the unknown is the oldest and strongest fear of them all.  
The man’s words hold true; your heart is pounding a bruise on your ribcage, and your stomach is in your throat. There is nowhere to hide on the path, just desolate rock in every direction. There was no place for the woman to go.   
Near you, there is a nest. You’ve seen them while you were walking; gnarled, with rocky eggs inside. Some of them have bones inside. The nests are huge, easily five times your size. Did whatever tends to the nests take her?  
When you approach the nest, you take one of the branches in your hand. The texture feels like bark, but the offshoots spread in all directions. The structure does not seem natural at all, at least not to you.  
Bracing your hands around the branch you snap the brittle wood in two. While the wood is as weak as you expected, the core is completely alien. There are no rings, the pores do not leak sap, and despite the nest looking like it hasn’t moved in weeks, the twigs seem alive.  
One of the twigs shifts suddenly, in the corner of your eye, barely noticeable. Was it just your imagination? No; they are all shifting, now that you’ve looked closer. Animals in the nest? The twig in your hand begins writhing, sprouting a comparatively huge head with long, razor sharp teeth. You drop it in surprise, and it starts to screech; an inhuman noise like the wailing souls of the damned, the sound grating your ears.  
As it falls to the ground it completes its transformation. It’s a small, serpentine creature. Pitch black with a large head and terrifying teeth dripping with… something.  
Across the desolate landscape distant screams echo in response.   
Overcome with fear, you start to run, stumbling along the narrow pathways. The misty depths below await the inevitable misstep that will result in your tumbling into the vast expanses.  
As you run, your foot slips, a pebble tumbling into the misty void below. As you over correct in an attempt to save yourself, you slip of the other side of the ridge. A scream rips itself from your throat as you tumble backwards.

**Author's Note:**

> this is something i wrote in my science class with the person who sits in my seat in bio over a period if several weeks. it's just a fun little thing we wrote based on some drawings we'd done on the desk.


End file.
